6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
After escaping a job gone bad, a dying small-time crook escapes to Galveston with several unanticipated companions.
Starring: Ben Foster, Elle Fanning, Lili Reinhart, Adepero Oduye, Robert AramayoThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
RLJ Entertainment has been wading into the 4K waters, and its latest effort is director Mélanie Laurent's bleak tone poem, Galveston, adapted from an early novel by True Detective's creator, Nic Pizzolatto. (For reasons discussed in the standard Blu-ray review, Pizzolatto removed his screenplay credit.) Unlike some of RLJ's previous UHD releases, where the difference from the standard Blu-ray was barely perceptible (e.g., Arizona), Galveston's 4K treatment displays noteworthy alterations, but they're not necessarily an upgrade.
(Note: Screenshots accompanying this review have been captured from the standard Blu-ray.
Additional screen captures can be found here.)
In the standard Blu-ray review, I described how director
Mélanie Laurent and her
cinematographer, Arnaud Potier, used darkness and dim lighting to achieve a contemporary noir
style. For RLJ Entertainment's 2160p, HEVC/H.265-encoded UHD disc, the HDR colorist
appears to have taken his (or her) cue from this extensive use of half-light and dark settings and
exaggerated it to such extremes that in many scenes the action has become impossible to follow.
(Seriously: In the botched job that turns Roy into a fugitive, I would not have been able to tell
what was happening if I didn't already know from watching the standard Blu-ray.) The blacks on
the disc are velvety, deep and beautiful, but they don't service the story.
This UHD appears to be an up-conversion from a 2K source, but any uptick in detail or definition
is negligible, even in the film's well-lit scenes, which were well-enough represented on the
standard Blu-ray. When darkness and shadow prevail, which they do for the majority of the film, any
advantage from up-rezzing is negated by the HDR's enhanced gloom. Color values appear
comparable, with some minor refinements in shadings on the 4K.
The UHD disc contains the same lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track previously reviewed.
As is RLJ's usual practice, it has included the same extras (in 1080p) on the UHD disc as on the standard Blu-ray. They are discussed here. A copy of the standard Blu-ray is also included.
I couldn't give Galveston a strong recommendation on Blu-ray, and although the UHD disc can
currently be had for only $5 more, I can't recommend that additional expenditure, unless you
have an academic interest in seeing how HDR colorists can get so carried away with technological
toys that they lose a film's narrative thread. Arguably, Laurent and her cinematographer
charted that path with the original photography, but the 4K treatment pushes their design toward
a cliff over which it falls into a dark void.
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